Wall Street Reform Includes Movie Futures Ban

It looks all the more likely that trading on box office futures will be stopped before it starts.

A joint House and Senate conference committee, which is merging both versions of the financial reform package together, passed the new bill that includes the ban in it. That is a blow to the Trend Exchange and the Cantor Exchange, which had hoped that such a ban would be left out of the final legislation.

This is a big victory for the industry's chief lobbying org, the Motion Picture Assn. of America, and its interim CEO Bob Pisano.

Pisano said in a statement: “We are heartened by the Conference Committee’s actions and look forward to the full House and Senate approving the legislation.”